The Sangerhausen of the West

Adapted for the web from an article by
M. Thomas Liggett, Jr.
printed in the 1996 American Rose Annual

The San Jose Heritage Rose Garden is an unexpected jewel in
the midst of a revitalized downtown San Jose, California; a five-acre rose
garden that contains 4,000 plants. How did this happen?

In 1987 San Jose Mayor McEnery
initiated turning land cleared for airport safety, a weed infested eyesore, into
a central park for San Jose.

In 1988, Tom Liggett was
approached by Lorrie Freeman, "The Mother of Guadalupe Gardens"
and avid rosarian, to develop a competitive proposal for a rose garden in the
area. His concept grew from an initial half-acre plot to a full city
block.

In 1992, Tom's proposal for a San Jose
Heritage Rose Garden was selected and funded by the San Jose City Council. Local
Councilmember David Pandori steered the garden safely through the
political shoals.

The Garden is in the shape of a large bowl, the center of
which is 5 feet deep. This allows the observer to see every single plant from
every place in the garden. Inside the garden are six large diamond- shaped
sections, each containing a basic class of roses.

An environmental showcase, the garden was designed to be as
easy to maintain as possible, minimizing labor, water, resources, and chemicals.
This was done for two reasons:

* First, our garden was planted and is maintained almost entirely with
volunteer labor.

* Second, we use no chemical sprays.

A heritage garden must be a safe haven for roses. Central to
that concept lies the idea of selecting those varieties that need to be saved
... but, what is worth saving? Four categories:

obviously rare or endangered now;

those so great that they must be shown to the public; and

those we feel will be rare in the future.

important to the history of rose hybridizing.

"Unknown" or "found" roses are an important component of a
heritage rose garden. These are varieties found in old cemeteries, around old
homes, or along country byways. Pending identification, these roses are given
study names listed in quotes that usually indicate where that variety was found.

Growing our own plants is the key that makes the garden work.
We collect budwood and cuttings from all over the United States and Europe. Ed
Wilkinson spearheaded the European collection, especially. Many individuals and
nurseries are very generous in giving us their varieties.

In March 1995, the garden was planted after
five years of procuring and growing plants in a field over 40 miles away. Over
750 volunteers showed up over 3 weekends in spite of record rains! Since that
time, we continue to collect and grow additional varieties. We average 3 major
plantings a year. It was dedicated by city officials in September 1995.

Tom designed the garden to be a "rose encyclopedia." In
the course of a spring afternoon, an absolute beginner can stroll through our
garden and acquire more real knowledge about the rose family than in weeks of
reading books. That's the whole idea. It continues to inspire dedicated
volunteers.

We believe our garden now contains more varieties than any
other public rose garden in the western hemisphere ... a rose garden all San
Jose can be proud of. But what is more important is that through all of the
problems, the garden was planted. And is growing. And is beautiful. Noted
rosarian, Robert B. Martin, Jr., described it as the "holy
place that all rosarians should visit sometime in their lifetime."

July 2004 Update

Since these first years, much has happened. The
Heritage is still an all-volunteer effort with a constantly more capable staff
of dedicated volunteers and great support by the City of San Jose and the
Friends of the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens. Some of our
accomplishments over the years:

Initiation in 1997 of annual free public pruning lessons during January
and early February. This has helped get the Heritage pruned and has
made a visible improvement in roses in the area’s front yards!

April 1997. Origination of the Friends of the Guadalupe River Park &
Gardens (FGRPG) annual festival, Spring in Guadalupe Gardens, coordinated
with the Heritage’s peak spring bloom the last Saturday in April. This
carries on an on-and-off San José tradition of rose-oriented festivals
starting in 1895.

Hiring of staff in 1997 by FGRPG to recruit and support volunteers.
Afterworkday snack times started on Wednesdays.

1997. Addition of a dedicated toolshed for convenience to
volunteers.

1997. A continuing program of replacing duplicate roses and those
out of their proper place with the correct roses for their locations.
This has increased the number of varieties by over 1200.

1997. Removal of three feet of soil from the front and back berms
to permit viewing of the Heritage from Taylor Street.

1999. Addition of a plot in the adjacent Courtyard Garden to place
miniature roses released after 1988.

1999.Conclusion of an arrangement with the Santa Clara University to
plant up to 260 climbing roses on their ½ mile wrote iron fence. 240
are already in place and growing.

2000. Finally, completion of winter pruning of the whole garden in
one year (except climbing roses).

2001. Replacement by volunteers of the entire drip
irrigation system completed.

2002. Addition of a program to progress through all climbing
roses, pruning and tying them to tree pole uprights.

2002. The very successful American Rose Society Spring Convention,
held in San Jose with the Heritage as the feature attraction in 2002, the
Year of the Rose. 500 attended from across the US and around the
world.

2001 & 2002. Five articles describing the garden were published in four international rose magazines.

2003. Major increase in the progress of getting all the roses in
their proper places identified with identifying plaques. The only
restriction on completion is their approximate $10 each material cost.

2004. After over 2 years of planning and receiving donations, The Heritage has its own nursery. We have a place and facilities to support
growing out over 300 roses to a size where they can compete in the main garden. Material was funded by donations and major reductions in price. Labor was provided by the San Jose Conservation Corps.

2005. Guadalupe Gardens Phase I completed including a handy
parking lot and conversion of the entire garden to recycled water. Lovely
new directional and interpretive signage has been added to the complete park.

These years have seen the Heritage emerge from an obscure
garden in a seldom visited area of San Jose to a world renowned destination for
rose lovers across the nation and around the world!